First metal objects made on island, out of copper. The same period
as the Minoan civilisation on Crete.

Early Bronze Age (I-III) (Early Cypriote Age)

c.2600 - c.2000BC

Bronze, a strong and versatile alloy of copper, was first used
to make tools and ornaments. The technology possibly introduced by a group
of immigrants from Anatolia.

Middle Bronze Age (Middle Cypriote Age).

c.2000 - c.1600BC

A short and relatively peaceful period when many villages were
settled.

Late Bronze Age (I, II)

c.1600 - c.1050BC

Trade links with Egypt and Near East well established and Cyprus
is prosperous for much of the period. The ‘Sea People’ are
active in the eastern Mediterranean including Cyprus. The time of the
Mycenaean period in Greece, which had a great effect on Cypriot culture.

Iron Age: Cypro-Geometric Age

c.1050 - c.750BC

Cypriot culture shows much influence from Greece. Contact with
the Phoenicians from the 9th century.

Iron Age: Cypro-Archaic Age

c.750 - c.500BC

Period of the city-kingdoms despite the island being ruled by a
succession of foreign countries for much of the period (Assyrians, from
709 BC; Egyptians, from c.570 BC; and Persians, from 545 BC)

.

Iron Age: Cypro-Classical Age

c. 500- c.325 BC

Cyprus ruled by the Persians until their defeat by Alexander the
Great of Greece in 333 BC. Cypriot cities then come under Greek rule.